Treating mechanism



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. .21, 1958 INVENTOR. #0 152 a 4 April 3, 1962 H. c. AMOS TREATING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 21, 1958 I o 6 45 20 50 62 6/ 0- O INVENTOR. A a/v6? 6. AMOS BY KM,

, nited This invention relates to treating mechanism and, more particularly, to apparatus for applying a controlled amount of liquid to a length of material.

An object of this invention is to provide new and improved material treating apparatus.

Another object of the invention is to provide new and improved mechanism for applying liquid to a length of material in a manner to provide the desired ratio of liquid to material, including, means for moving the material at a constant rate of speed, and means for applying liquid to the material at a controlled rate whereby the liquid is applied to the material in a constant ratio.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus for impregnating glass fiber rovings with a controlled amount of uncured liquid resin comprising, means for moving the material at a constant rate of speed along a path, means for applying the liquid to said material with a constant ratio of liquid to material including a rotatable wheel having a peripheral groove with a portion of the groove length receiving and slightly squeezing the material, a spray nozzle having an outlet directed to place liquid in a portion of the groove prior to engagement thereof by the material, a positive displacement pump for the liquid having an outlet connected to the nozzle, and means for driving said pump and material moving means at a constant predetermined speed ratio.

Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus with parts of a roving broken away;

FIG. 2 is a side view in elevation looking toward the rear of the apparatus as viewed in FIG. 1 with parts broken away;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the apparatus looking toward the front of the apparatus as viewed in FIG. 1 with parts broken away;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the apparatus; and

FIG. 5 is a vertical fragmentary section on an enlarged scale of the grooved wheel and taken generally along the line 5-5 in FIG. 4.

While this invention is susceptible of embodiments in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail an embodiment of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment illustrated. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

This apparatus generally embodies means for moving material along at a constant rate of speed and into contact with means for applying the liquid to the material including a member having an elongated slot of a size to receive and slightly squeeze said material, means for applying liquid in said slot including a member having an outlet directed toward said slot, and means for supplying a controlled rate of liquid flow to said outlet member.

Although I may employ rovings having a different number of ends and with each end having a different number of filaments depending upon the article made, one example of a commercially available glass roving normally contains thirty ends and each end contains approximately 200 filaments.

For handling purposes, each roving is furnished with atent a slight spiral twist to maintain the roving as a unit. Such a twist may be eliminated or increased as desired.

As a specific example, the apparatus disclosed herein is provided for impregnating a glass fiber roving with a controlled amount of uncured liquid resin whereby a length of the impregnated material may be used to form an article built up in a desired manner with the impregnated rovings which are then heat treated to form the final article. The article thus has a controlled ratio of glass fiber and resin.

As shown in the drawings, a roving 10 is drawn from a supply roll 10a by a pair of spaced-apart multiple pulley members 11 and 12 about which the roving passes. The multiple pulley members have their shafts in non-parallel relation, as shown in the drawings, whereby the roving will pass on and off the pulley members in the desired manner. The pulley member 11 is an idler while the pulley member 12 is driven by mechanism more fully described hereinafter.

The multiple pulley mem-bers 11 and 12 constitute means for drawing a roving from the supply thereof and function to pass the roving through means for applying liquid thereto including a generally conical roving guide 13 which leads a loop of the roving to a rotatable member in the form of a wheel 14 having a peripheral V- shaped grove 14a with a relatively narrow slot 14b at the bottom thereof of a size to receive and slightly squeeze the roving.

After leaving the rotatable wheel 14, the roving travels a substantial distance about an idler pulley 15 and then passes to the multiple pulley members 11 and 12. The roving, after leaving the pulley members 11 and 12, again passes a substantial distance to a pulley member 16 and about a guide pulley 16a onto a windup reel 17. Each of the idler pulleys 15 and 16 is mounted to a fixed support by a tension spring 17a to maintain tension on the roving and insure the movement of the roving down into the slot 141; of the wheel 14. An exhaust chamber is provided, as indicated at 18 in FIG. 1, for exhausting fumes from the resin that are present.

The means for applying the liquid to the materiahin addition to the rotatable wheel 14, further include a reservoir 26} which feeds the liquid to an inlet 21 of a positive displacement pump. The pump has an outlet 23 connected by a line 24 to a nozzle 25 having its outlet aimed to direct a stream of liquid into the groove 14a and more particularly the slot 141) of the rotatable wheel 14. This placing of the liquid into slot 14b occurs prior to the entry of material into the slot so that the tensioned roving is pulled down into the slot whereby it is impregnated with the liquid.

Means for driving the pump 22 and the multiple pulley member 12 in a fixed speed ratio comprises a motor 40 driving a pulley 41 which drives a pulley 42 on a shaft 43 which is rotatably supported in bearings 44 and 45 supported on a base 45a of the apparatus. A pulley 46 fixed on the shaft 43 is connected by a belt 47 to a pulley 48 mounted on an input shaft 49 of a gear reduction unit 50. The output shaft 51 of the gear reduction unit has a sprocket 52 driving a chain 53 which passes around a sprocket 54 connected to the input shaft 55 of the positive displacement pump 22.

The driven shaft 43 has a second pulley 60 thereon which is connected by a belt 61 to a pulley 62 which is mounted on a shaft 62a carrying the multiple pulley member 12 and which is rotatably mounted in bearings 63 and 64.

A separate motor 70 is connected by a pulley 71, a belt 72 and a pulley 73 to a shaft 74 carrying the roving windup spool 17 to wind up the liquid impregnated material.

With the foregoing drive for the multiple pulley memher 12 and the liquid displacement pump 22 a constant ratio of liquid, such as uncured liquid resin, to material, such as glass fiber roving, is maintained and it is possible to select and maintain a different ratio by changing the sprocket 54 on the pump input shaft 55 to a different diameter sprocket which will result in a different rate of rotation of the input shaft 55 of the positive displacement pump 22.

I claim:

1. A machine for impregnating glass fiber rovings with a controlled amount of uncured liquid resin comprising, means for drawing a roving of filaments from a supply thereof at a constant rate of speed including two multiple pulley members at a slight angle to each other about which the roving makes several passes, means for applying the liquid resin to said roving including a rotatable wheel having a peripheral V-shaped groove with a relative narrow slot at the bottom of the groove to receive and slightly squeeze the roving, a nozzle having an outlet directed to place resin in said slot as the wheel rotates, and a positive displacement pump having an inlet adapted for connection to a reservoir for liquid resin and an outlet connected to said nozzle, means for directing a loop of said roving about the wheel under tension to rotate the wheel and pull the roving down into the slot to press the liquid resin into the roving and about the filaments, a common drive for the pump and the pulley members for obtaining the desired resin ratio in the roving including, a motor, a first drive train from the motor to at least one of the pulley members, a second drive train for the pump comprising, a chain, and a pump drive shaft adapted to removably receive a sprocket engageable with the chain to provide the desired ratio of resin to glass.

2. Apparatus for impregnating glass fiber rovings with a controlled amount of uncured resin comprising, means for drawing a roving from a supply thereof at a constant rate of speed, means for applying the liquid resin to said roving including a rotatable Wheel having a peripheral V-shaped groove with a relative narrow slot at the bottom thereof of a size to slightly squeeze the roving, a member having an outlet directed to place liquid resin in said slot as the wheel rotates, and a positive displacement pump having an inlet adapted for connection to a reservoir for resin and an outlet connected to said member, means for directing a loop of said roving about the wheel under tension to rotate the wheel and pull the roving down into the slot to press the resin into the roving, and means for driving the pump and the roving drawing means in a fixed speed ratio for obtaining the desired resin ratio in the roving.

3. Apparatus for treating elongated material composed of a plurality of discrete fibers with a controlled amount of liquid comprising, means for drawing material from a supply thereof at a constant rate of speed, means for applying the liquid to said material including a member having an elongated slot of a size to receive and slightly squeeze said material, a nozzle having an outlet directed to place liquid in said slot, and a positive displacement pump having an inlet adapted for connection to a reservoir for liquid and an outlet connected to said nozzle, means for directing said material through the slot under tension to pull the material down into the slot to press the liquid into the material and means for driving the pump and material drawing means at fixed speeds relative to each other.

4. A machine for treating continuous material with a controlled amount of liquid comprising, means for moving the material at a constant rate of speed along a path, means for applying liquid to said material with a constant ratio of liquid to material including a rotatable wheel having a peripheral groove with a portion of the groove length receiving the material, a nozzle having an outlet directed to place liquid in a portion of the groove unoccupied by material, and a positive displacement pump for the liquid having an outlet connected to the nozzle, and means for driving said pump and material moving means in a constant predetermined speed ratio.

5. A machine for impregnating a length of continuous strand material with a controlled amount of liquid comprising, means for moving the material at a constant rate of speed along a path, means for applying liquid to said material with a constant ratio of liquid to material including a rotatable wheel disposed adjacent the material path and having a peripheral groove in which the material seats in its travel, a member having an outlet directed to place liquid in said groove prior to engagement thereof by said material, means having a variable rate for supplying liquid to said member, and means for controlling said last mentioned means in response to rate of material travel to provide a rate of liquid supply which maintains the constant ratio of liquid to material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,662,086 Stuhr Mar. 13, 1928 1,883,494 Berger Oct. 18,1932 2,289,862 Bailey July 14, 1942 2,323,487 Rayburn July 6, 1943 2,353,987 Bartlett July 18, 1944 2,402,313 Burket et al June 18, 1946 2,442,335 Bauer June 1, 1948 2,673,385 Williamson et al Mar. 30, 1954 2,723,215 Biefeld et al Nov. 8, 1955 2,835,221 Slayter et al May 20, 1958 2,910,043 Borden Oct. 27, 1959 2,911,941 Sokal Nov. 10, 1959 

